Help with flow rate on new tank

[plantweanie]

Newbie here.

I have a 29g, with 39lbs live rock. As a newbie, I had the store I bought from set me up. They gave me a Sureflow 1600 for circulation. It kinda looked like there was a lot of water moving around when the tank was empty, but we are trusting folk.

the pump is located bottom, back right corner of tank facing upper left back corner.

Yesterday I put in a wee little Waving Hand Xenia (3" x 3"), at center left, top of the rock. Poor little guy was leaning straight sideways with the water movement. We moved him to center tank, more toward the front, in front of a lip of live rock. He looked better, but was still leaning a lot, just the other direction. This a.m. i moved him center front, in the substrate on the bottom, on top of a rock fragment. He appears to be happy with the flow but is now not getting as much light as he would more toward the top.

It appears with the 1600 pump, we have way too much water movement. The shop I bought for told me initially to install the 2100 upgrade that came with the pump. If 1600 leaves only 1 apparent spot for a soft coral, it seems the 2100 would blow my snails right off the rock!

It was our intention to get more coral on Friday, but since these are living creatures, we don't want to move until we know the critters will be safe.

Fully stocked, we will have 4 nassarius, 2 astrea, and 4 trochus snails, 6 blue legged hermit crabs, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 yellow watchman goby, 1 waving hand xenia (all currently in the tank) and are looking to add 5 or 6 more corals, 1 feather duster and 3 small specie'd fish yet to be determined.

Can anyone give me your thoughts on the current pump?

Thanks!

[OIIIIIO]

I would swap the MJ1200 for an MJ600. The MJ1200 with a sureflow mod is way too much for that size tank with xenia. With the 600, you'll only be able to use the smaller propeller.

Better yet would be to get a tunze nano-stream so that less space it taken up in the tank. I have a couple of the sureflows in a 55g now and can't imagine what they look like in a 29g.

[charlie]

Hey plantweanie


I agree, you may have outdone yourself with that particular power head. Either the one suggested in the prvious post, or maybe look into a Korallia 2 or smaller. JMHO

[Reefland]

I like the pump choice for the tank size. But then I like a lot of flow as I have 2 of them and a Tunze 6060 in a 75. The corals would adapt to the flow unless it is simply blowing them apart.
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[plantweanie]

Downsized to a Maxjet 900 and it seems to be better. Problem is, we can't seem to get it positioned so that substrate doesn't fly - which didn't happen with the 1600. Will look into the other brand mentioned, but alas, is there a positioning trick that helps reduce substrate blow away????

[charlie]

What I found when I had a sandbed is that it'll blow around for while, but if the pattern remains the same, it eventually settles down.
Is the 900 pointed directly across from another powerhead?

[plantweanie]

What I found when I had a sandbed is that it'll blow around for while, but if the pattern remains the same, it eventually settles down.
Is the 900 pointed directly across from another powerhead?

Nope. It is the only powerhead not directed to skimmer/uv. it has dug quite a divet in the substrate.

[charlie]

Is it a modded 900? Maxi-jets put a rather laminar flow unless they are modded, then the flow is more dispersed. Were the other powerheads you had digging in the sand?

[plantweanie]

Is it a modded 900? Maxi-jets put a rather laminar flow unless they are modded, then the flow is more dispersed. Were the other powerheads you had digging in the sand?

OK, so I am a dweeb on this: what is 'modded'? The original 1600 had a second propeller attatchment that would increase it to a 2100. At the time, I thought this was gph. Reading the box though I have evolved . I still have all my boxes, and none have a reference to 'modded'. Enlighten me as to what it is and where one would find such a creature. The 900 has the Green Torch Coral blowing quite a bit. I think he would appreciate a little dispursion.

[charlie]

What I meant was, Is it like the 1600. If you do a search on maxi-jet mods, you will come up with all the info you need. Maybe you should try the MJ 600??

[plantweanie]

sigh... it seems now that the powerhead is the least of my worries. i was searching 'xenia' in the forums and learned that i may lose the little fella due to extreme stupidity. when i bought him i was told to glue him to a rock. apparently this is not a good thing. go figure why the little guy isn't fairing well.

my poor little xenia....

my kingdom for a local fish expert who will tell me what i need to know rather than pull a sales pitch!!!!!!!

[plantweanie]

Problem solved!!!!!

The pump was not a standard maxjet. it was a propeller model which apparently is supposed to be used in larger tanks. by retro-fitting the 'fan' water director from a standard maxjet on this one, the flow works.

set up a 10 tank to raise pods and attempted to use a maxjet 900 with the 1600 propeller apparatus. this after looking at 10g tanks set up at a store today that all had 1200's. the store's tanks were fine, me with a 900 propeller mechanism created wayyy too much flow. put the standard maxjet attatchment on it and alas, a happy tank.

soooo, to those who said a 1600 should work, you were correct. it was not the pump, but the water movement device (for lack of a better word) that was incorrect. the 1600 now creates manageable currents.

my snails, xenia, coco worm and green torch are now breathing a sigh of relief

live and learn......